Method of providing hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging service

ABSTRACT

Provided is a method of providing a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging service, performed by a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging service providing server connected to a user terminal and a plurality of charging-vehicle terminals, the method including (a) analyzing a fuel usage pattern of a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle related to the user terminal and predicting a fuel charging time of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle on the basis of the fuel usage pattern; (b) determining a charging location and a charging-performing vehicle terminal at the fuel charging time on the basis of location information of the user terminal, and providing the user terminal with a charging alarm including information regarding the charging location and the charging-performing vehicle terminal; and (c) providing the charging-performing vehicle terminal with the information regarding the user terminal and the charging location when a charging request is received from the user terminal in response to the charging alarm.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to and the benefit of Korean PatentApplication No. 2016-0024646, filed on Feb. 29, 2016, the disclosure ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to technology of providing a hydrogen fuelcell vehicle charging service, and more particularly, to a method ofproviding a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging service, in which ahydrogen fuel cell vehicle and a mobile charging vehicle may gettogether at a specific location to perform charging.

2. Discussion of Related Art

At present, most energy consumed all over the world is generated fromoil and coal which are fossil sources. In particular, it may beconsidered that oil such as gasoline and diesel oil is used in allvehicles. However, deposits of fossil fuels such as oil are limited, andvarious discharge gases and dust generated when fossil fuels are burnedto obtain energy may be main causes of environmental pollution andglobal warming. As alternative energy that may improve the situation,there are clean energy sources such as hydrogen and new renewable energysuch as water power, wind power, and solar energy. In particular, a fuelcell using hydrogen is expected as a most preferable energy source forvehicles when the efficiency of the fuel cell is considered.

That is, a vehicle employing a fuel cell using hydrogen as a powersource uses water and electric power generated when hydrogen is combinedwith oxygen, and is thus quiet and does not emit any discharge gas.Hydrogen which is a source can be injected as quickly as in a generalgas vehicle. Thus, the efficiency of the vehicle employing a fuel cellis as good as those of existing vehicles. A high-pressure hydrogen gasstorage container should be provided inside a vehicle to use hydrogen,and a hydrogen charging station should be constructed in the form of agas station to charge hydrogen. However, a hydrogen supplyinfrastructure has yet to be sufficiently built and thus hydrogen cannotbe immediately charged when needed.

Korean Laid-Open Patent Application No. 10-2011-0077659 disclosing ahydrogen-charging station and a method of controlling the same providesa method of efficiently and safely charging hydrogen by controllinghigh-purity hydrogen production facilities and a high-pressurecompression, storing, and charging system. Here, a method of efficientlycharging hydrogen is merely provided but a solution to a case in which avehicle needs to be charged with hydrogen during driving is notsuggested. Therefore, there are still the above problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a method of providing a hydrogenfuel cell vehicle charging service, in which when a hydrogen fuel cellvehicle needs to be charged with hydrogen in a region in which ahydrogen-charging station does not exist, the hydrogen fuel cell vehicleand a mobile charging vehicle may get together and perform charging at apredetermined location using a user terminal related to the hydrogenfuel cell vehicle and a terminal related to the mobile charging vehicle.

The present invention is also directed to a method of providing ahydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging service, in which a fuel usagepattern of a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle is analyzed and a fuel chargingtime is predicted and notified to a user terminal.

The present invention is also directed to a method of providing ahydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging service, in which a charging planincluding a number of times of charging and a charging location is madeon the basis of an estimated fuel consumption rate according toinformation regarding a point of departure and a destination of ahydrogen fuel cell vehicle.

The present invention is also directed to a method of providing ahydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging service, in which when a chargingrequest is received from a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, a charginglocation and a charging-performing vehicle terminal are determined onthe basis of the location of a user terminal.

According to a first aspect of an embodiment of the present invention, amethod of providing a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging service,performed by a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging service providingserver connected to a user terminal and a plurality of charging-vehicleterminals, includes (a) analyzing a fuel usage pattern of a hydrogenfuel cell vehicle related to the user terminal, and predicting a fuelcharging time of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle on the basis of the fuelusage pattern: (b) when the fuel charging time is reached, determining acharging location and a charging-performing vehicle terminal on thebasis of location information of the user terminal, and providing theuser terminal with a charging alarm including information regarding thecharging location and the charging-performing vehicle terminal; and (c)providing the charging-performing vehicle terminal with the informationregarding the user terminal and the charging location when a chargingrequest is received from the user terminal in response to the chargingalarm.

(a) may include determining a fuel usage pattern on the basis of dataregarding a daily moving distance and a daily fuel usage of the hydrogenfuel cell vehicle: and determining a date when the amount of fuel of thehydrogen fuel cell vehicle is expected to decrease to a predeterminedreference amount or less on the basis of the fuel usage pattern. Thefuel usage pattern may be periodically updated.

(b) may include determining a charging location nearest to the userterminal or a charging location where the user terminal uses mostfrequently among at least one charging location which is within aspecific range from a location of the user terminal.

(b) may include providing the user terminal with information regardingat least one charging location which is within a specific range fromlocation of the user terminal, receiving a user's selection as to aspecific charging location from the user terminal, and determining thecharging location.

(b) may include determining the charging-performing vehicle terminalnearest to the charging location and having no charging performing planamong the plurality of charging-vehicle terminals on the basis of thecharging location. Charging vehicles related to the plurality ofcharging-vehicle terminals may move according to predetermined locationmovement plans of the respective charging vehicles.

(c) may include providing the user terminal with an estimated movingtime to the charging location and real-time location information of acharging-performing vehicle, and providing the charging-performingvehicle terminal with real-time location information of the userterminal.

According to a second aspect of an embodiment of the present invention,a method of providing a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging service,performed by a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging service providingserver connected to a user terminal and a plurality of charging-vehicleterminals. Includes (a) receiving information regarding a point ofdeparture and a destination from the user terminal; (b) calculating anestimated fuel consumption rate of a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle relatedto the user terminal on the basis of the information regarding the pointof departure and the destination; (c) determining a number of times ofcharging, a charging time, and a charging location on the basis of theestimated fuel consumption rate; and (d) setting a moving path of theuser terminal on the basis of the charging location and the informationregarding the point of departure and the destination.

(c) may include determining, on the basis of the estimated fuelconsumption rate, an estimated location of the hydrogen fuel cellvehicle at the charging time when the amount of fuel is expected todecrease to a predetermined reference amount or less, and determining acharging location which is within a specific range from the estimatedlocation.

(c) may include determining a charging-performing vehicle terminal amonga plurality of charging-vehicle terminals on the basis of a distance tothe charging location, a charging performing plan of a charging vehicle,and a location movement plan of the charging vehicle. Charging vehiclesrelated to the plurality of charging-vehicle terminals may moveaccording to predetermined location movement plans of the respectivecharging vehicles.

The method may further include providing the charging-performing vehicleterminal with information regarding the user terminal, the chargingtime, and the charging location.

According to a third aspect of an embodiment of the present invention, amethod of providing a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging service,performed by a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging service providingserver connected to a user terminal and a plurality of charging-vehicleterminals, includes (a) receiving a charging request from the userterminal; (b) determining a charging location on the basis of a locationof the user terminal; (c) determining a charging-performing vehicleterminal among the plurality of charging-vehicle terminals on the basisof the charging location and locations of the plurality ofcharging-vehicle terminals; and (d) transmitting, to the user terminal,information regarding the charging location, the distance between thelocation of the user terminal and the charging location, and anestimated moving time, and real-time location information of thecharging-performing vehicle.

(c) may include checking whether the plurality of charging-vehicleterminals are located within a specific range from the charginglocation, and charging performing plans of the plurality ofcharging-vehicle terminals. Charging vehicles related to the pluralityof charging-vehicle terminals may move according to predeterminedlocation movement plans of the respective charging vehicles.

(d) may include transmitting real-time location information of the userterminal to the charging-performing vehicle terminal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will become more apparent to those of ordinary skill in theart by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with referenceto the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle chargingservice providing system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention:

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle chargingservice providing server of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a charging-pattern alarm unit of FIG. 2:

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a charging-plan generator of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a constant charging performing unit of FIG.2;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method of providing a recommended hydrogenfuel cell vehicle charging service, performed by the hydrogen fuel cellvehicle charging service providing system of FIG. 1, according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a method of providing a recommended hydrogenfuel cell vehicle charging service, performed by the hydrogen fuel cellvehicle charging service providing system of FIG. 1, according toanother embodiment of the present invention:

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a method of providing a recommended hydrogenfuel cell vehicle charging service, performed by the hydrogen fuel cellvehicle charging service providing system of FIG. 1, according toanother embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle chargingservice according to another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, the advantages and features of the present invention and amethod of achieving them will become more apparent from exemplaryembodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings.However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments setforth herein and may be embodied in many different forms. Rather, theseembodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough andcomplete and will fully convey the concept of the invention to those ofordinary skill in the art. The scope of the invention is defined by theappended claims. Throughout the present disclosure, the same referencenumerals represent the same elements. As used herein, the term ‘and/or’includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associatedlisted items.

It will be understood that, although the terms ‘first’, ‘second’, etc.,may be used herein to describe various elements, components, and/orsections, these elements, components, and/or sections should not belimited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish oneelement, component, or section from another element, component, orsection. Thus, a first element, component, or section discussed belowcould be termed a second element, component, or section withoutdeparting from the technical idea of the present invention.

In operations to be described below, identification signs assignedthereto (e.g., a, b, c, etc.) are used merely for convenience ofexplanation. Thus, the identification signs should not be understood asdescribing the order of the operations and the operations may beperformed in an order different from the order described herein unlessthe content clearly indicates otherwise. That is, the operations may beperformed in the order described herein, performed substantiallysimultaneously, or performed in an order reverse to the order describedherein.

The terms used in the present disclosure are not intended to restrictthe scope of the present invention and only used to describeembodiments. As used herein, the singular forms ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’ areintended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearlyindicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms‘comprise’ and/or ‘comprising,’ when used herein, specify the presenceof stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/orcomponents, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or moreother features. Integers, steps, operations, elements, components,and/or groups thereof.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientificterms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by oneof ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will befurther understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly useddictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that isconsistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art andwill not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unlessexpressly so defined herein.

In describing embodiments of the present invention herein, well-knownfunctions or constructions are not described in detail if it isdetermined that they would obscure the invention due to unnecessarydetail. Terms which are to be described below are determined inconsideration of functions in embodiments of the present invention butare variable according to a user's intention, an operator's intension,precedents, or the like. Thus, the terms used herein should be definedbased on the whole context of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle chargingservice providing system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging serviceproviding system 100 includes a user terminal 110, charging-vehicleterminals 120, and a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging serviceproviding server 130. Here, the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle chargingservice providing server 130 is connected to the user terminal 110 andthe charging-vehicle terminals 120 via a network.

The user terminal 110 is a terminal related to a hydrogen fuel cellvehicle and may be a terminal of a user of the hydrogen fuel cellvehicle. The user terminal 110 may run an application for receiving thehydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging service from the hydrogen fuel cellvehicle charging service providing server 130, and transmit data to orreceive data from the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging serviceproviding server 130 so that the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle chargingservice providing server 130 may perform a method of providing ahydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging service.

The charging-vehicle terminals 120 are terminals related to chargingvehicles storing hydrogen so as to charge a hydrogen fuel cell vehiclewith hydrogen, and may be terminals of drivers who use the chargingvehicles or terminals provided in the charging vehicles. In oneembodiment, one or more charging vehicles may be provided. Thus, theremay be one or more terminals related to the one or more chargingvehicles. All the charging-vehicle terminals 120 may be connected to thehydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging service providing server 130. Thecharging vehicles may be moved according to predetermined locationmovement plans thereof. Here, the location movement plans may be set tocirculate between a plurality of charging locations at predeterminedtime intervals.

For example, the user terminal 110 and the charging-vehicle terminals120 may be various types of wired/wireless communication devices, e.g.,computers such as a desktop personal computer (PC), a notebook PC, etc.,which are connected to the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging serviceproviding server 130 via a network to receive a hydrogen fuel cellvehicle charging service, or may be either general cellular phones(namely, feature phones) or open operating system (OS)-based smartphones through which users may download, freely use, and delete variousdesired application programs. Alternatively, the user terminal 110 andthe charging-vehicle terminals 120 may be understood as communicationdevices including either mobile phones having a mobile office functionas well as a voice/video communication function, an internet datacommunication function, etc. which are generally used, or all internetphones or tablet PCs, which do not have a voice communication functionbut are accessible to the Internet.

The hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging service providing server 130 isa device which performs a method of providing a hydrogen fuel cellvehicle charging service while being connected to the user terminal 110related to a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle and the charging-vehicleterminals 120. The hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging service providingserver 130 may make a database by continuously accumulating data aboutaverages of daily fuel consumption rates of a hydrogen fuel cellvehicle, analyze a fuel consumption pattern of the hydrogen fuel cellvehicle, and provide the user terminal 110 with a charging alarm at anestimated charging time. Furthermore, when a user inputs informationregarding a point of departure and a destination to the hydrogen fuelcell vehicle charging service providing server 130, the hydrogen fuelcell vehicle charging service providing server 130 may generate a fuelcharging plan and provide a moving path to the user. When receiving acharging request from the user terminal 110, the hydrogen fuel cellvehicle charging service providing server 130 may enable the hydrogenfuel cell vehicle related to the user terminal 110 and acharging-performing vehicle to get together to perform charging at aspecific charging location on the basis of the location of the userterminal 110, a charging location, the location of a charging vehicle,etc. In addition, the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging serviceproviding server 130 may store a moving plan or a daily locationmovement plan of a charging vehicle beforehand, and make a database bycontinuously accumulating averages of daily fuel consumption rates ofthe hydrogen fuel cell vehicle.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle chargingservice providing server 130 of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of acharging-pattern alarm unit of FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of acharging-plan generator of FIG. 2. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of aconstant charging performing unit of FIG. 2

Referring to FIG. 2, the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging serviceproviding server 130 includes a charging-pattern alarm unit 210, acharging-plan generator 220, a constant charging performing unit 230,and a controller 240.

In one embodiment, the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging serviceproviding server 130 may predict a fuel charging time and provide acharging alarm to the user terminal 110 through the charging-patternalarm unit 210 even when a charging request is not received from a user,as will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 3 and 6below.

Referring to FIG. 3, the charging-pattern alarm unit 210 includes apattern analysis module 211, a charging prediction module 212, acharging alarm providing module 213, and a charging performinginformation providing module 214.

Referring to FIG. 6, the pattern analysis module 211 analyzes a fuelusage pattern of a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle related to the userterminal 110, and the charging prediction module 212 predicts a fuelcharging time of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle on the basis of the fuelusage pattern (operation S601). The pattern analysis module 211 maydetermine the fuel usage pattern on the basis of data regarding a dailymoving distance and a daily fuel usage of the hydrogen fuel cellvehicle. Here, the fuel usage pattern may be periodically updated. Thecharging prediction module 212 may also determine a date when the amountof a fuel of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle will decrease to apredetermined reference amount or less on the basis of the fuel usagepattern.

For example, when a user uses a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle to commute, amoving distance pattern of the user in units of days of the week may beanalyzed (e.g., movement between home and the vicinity of a workplacefrom Monday to Friday and long-distance movement on Saturday andSunday), and a fuel usage pattern may be also analyzed (e.g., a fuelusage is uniform and relatively low from Monday to Friday and is notuniform and relatively high on Saturday and Sunday). Furthermore, thepattern analysis module 211 may predict that a fuel charging time is 22or 23 Feb. 2016, i.e., that the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle should becharged with fuel on 22 or 23, Feb. 2016, based on the analyzed pattern.

At the fuel charging time predicted by the pattern analysis module 211,the charging alarm providing module 213 determines a charging locationand a charging-performing vehicle terminal on the basis of locationinformation of the user terminal 110, and provides a charging alarm tothe user terminal 110 (operation S602). Here, the charging alarm mayinclude information regarding the charging location and thecharging-performing vehicle terminal. That is, even if a chargingrequest is not received from a user, the charging alarm providing module213 may provide the charging alarm to the user terminal 110 so that theuser may notice that the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle should be charged.

The charging alarm providing module 213 may determine either a charginglocation nearest to the user terminal 110 or a charging location atwhich the user terminal 110 has used most frequently among at least onecharging location that is within a specific range from the location ofthe user terminal 110. Here, the charging location may be understood asa place where the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle may get together with acharging vehicle to perform charging, may be set beforehand, andinformation thereof may be stored in the hydrogen fuel cell vehiclecharging service providing server 130.

More specifically, referring to FIG. 9, the charging alarm providingmodule 213 may determine a charging location nearest to the userterminal 110 among at least one charging location which is within aspecific range from a current location of the user terminal 110. Here,the specific range from the current location of the user terminal 110may be set in consideration of a moving path or direction of the userterminal 110 or be set to be a specific radius from the user terminal110 or less. The specific range may be set variously. In FIG. 9, acharging location 4 nearest to the current location of the user terminal110 may be determined in consideration of a moving path of the userterminal 110.

Alternatively, the charging location may be determined to be a charginglocation where the user terminal 110 has been used most frequentlyregardless of the current location of the user terminal 110. In thiscase, information regarding charging locations where the user terminal110 has been located may be separately collected and stored.

Furthermore, the charging alarm providing module 213 may provide theuser terminal 110 with information regarding all charging locationswhich are within a specific range from the location of the user terminal110, receive information regarding a user's selection as to a specificcharging location from the user terminal 110, and then determine acharging location. For example, referring to FIG. 9, the charging alarmproviding module 213 may provide the user terminal 110 with informationregarding charging locations 4 and 5, and determine the charginglocation 5 when the charging location 5 is selected by the user.

The charging alarm providing module 213 may determine acharging-performing vehicle terminal nearest to the determined charginglocation and having no charging-performing plan among a plurality ofcharging-vehicle terminals on the basis of the determined charginglocation. Here, the charging-performing vehicle terminal is a terminalrelated to a charging-performing vehicle. The charging-performingvehicle is a charging vehicle which will get together at a specificcharging location with a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle requesting to becharged and provide fuel to the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. The chargingperforming plan represents whether the charging vehicle has a plan tomove to a specific charging location so as to charge another hydrogenfuel cell vehicle with fuel.

The charging alarm providing module 213 may check whether the charging,vehicle terminals 120 are within a specific range from a charginglocation, and charging performing plans of the charging-vehicleterminals 120. For example, referring to FIG. 9, when the charginglocation 4 is determined, the charging alarm providing module 213 maydetermine a charging vehicle having no charging performing plan (e.g.,having no scheduled plan to charge another hydrogen fuel cell vehicle)and nearest to the charging location 4 or may determine a chargingvehicle having no charging performing plan and located on the charginglocation 4 or planned to move to the charging location 4 on the basis ofa location movement plan, among charging vehicles (indicated by a crossshape) which are within a specific range (as indicated by a dot line)from the charging location 4.

When receiving a charging request from the user terminal 110 in responseto a charging alarm, the charging performing information providingmodule 214 provides the charging-performing vehicle terminal withinformation regarding the user terminal 110 and the charging location(operation S603). That is, a user may determine whether a hydrogen fuelcell vehicle is to be charged or not in response to the charging alarm,and request to charge the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle.

When the user requests to charge the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle inresponse to the charging alarm, the charging performing informationproviding module 214 may provide the user terminal 110 with an estimatedmoving time to the charging location and real-time location informationof the charging-performing vehicle, and provide the charging-performingvehicle terminal with real-time location information of the userterminal 110.

In another embodiment, when information regarding a point of departureand a destination is received from a user, the hydrogen fuel cellvehicle charging service providing server 130 may generate a chargingplan and set a moving path from the point of departure to thedestination through the charging-plan generator 220 on the basis of anestimated fuel consumption rate, as will be described in more detailwith reference to FIGS. 4 and 7 below.

Referring to FIG. 4, the charging-plan generator 220 includes a path,information receiving module 221, an estimated fuel consumption ratecalculating module 222, a charging-plan determining module 223, amoving-path setting module 224, and a charging performing informationproviding module 225.

The path-information receiving module 221 receives information regardinga point of departure and a destination from the user terminal 110(operation 5701). The path-information receiving module 221 may generatean estimated moving path on the basis of the information regarding thepoint of departure and the destination received from the user terminal110.

The estimated fuel consumption rate calculating module 222 calculates anestimated fuel consumption rate of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle on thebasis of the information regarding the point of departure and thedestination (operation S702). The estimated fuel consumption ratecalculating module 222 may calculate an estimated fuel consumption ratewhen the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle moves at a predetermined speed inthe estimated moving path from the point of departure to thedestination.

The charging-plan determining module 223 determines a number of times ofcharging, a charging time, and a charging location on the basis of theestimated fuel consumption rate (operation S703). The charging-plandetermining module 223 may determine an estimated location of thehydrogen fuel cell vehicle at a charging time when the amount of fuel ofthe hydrogen fuel cell vehicle will decrease to a predeterminedreference amount or less on the basis of the estimated fuel consumptionrate, and determine a charging location which is within a specific rangefrom the estimated location. Here, a method of determining the charginglocation is the same as the method of determining a charging locationthrough the charging alarm providing module 213 described above.Although not described in detail here, the charging-plan determiningmodule 223 determines the charging location using the above method onthe basis of the estimated location of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle.

The charging-plan determining module 223 may determine acharging-performing vehicle terminal among the charging-vehicleterminals 120 on the basis of a distance to the charging location, acharging performing plan of a charging vehicle, and a location movementplan of the charging vehicle. Here, a method of determining thecharging-performing vehicle terminal is the same as the method ofdetermining a charging-performing vehicle terminal through the chargingalarm providing module 213 described above, and is thus not described indetail again here.

The moving-path setting module 224 sets a moving path of the userterminal 110 on the basis of the charging location and informationregarding a point of departure and a destination (operation S704). Thatis, the moving-path setting module 224 may set a moving path includingthe charging location determined by the charging-plan determining module223 among paths from the point of departure to the destination.

The charging performing information providing module 225 provides thecharging-performing vehicle terminal with information regarding the userterminal 110, the charging time, and the charging location. Thecharging-performing vehicle moves to the charging location at thecharging time and charges the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle on the basis ofthis information.

In another embodiment, when a charging request is received from a user,the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging service providing server 130 maydetermine, through the constant charging performing unit 230, a charginglocation on the basis of the location of a user and determine acharging-performing vehicle terminal on the basis of the charginglocation, as will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 5and 8 below.

The constant charging performing unit 230 includes a charging-requestreceiving module 231, a charging-location determining module 232, acharging-performing vehicle determining module 233, and a chargingperforming information providing module 234.

The charging-request receiving module 231 receives a charging requestfrom the user terminal 110 (operation S801). For example, when a userchecks the amount of remaining fuel of a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle anddetermines that the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle needs to be charged, theuser may request the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging serviceproviding server 130 to charge the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle through anapplication for providing a method of providing a hydrogen fuel cellvehicle charging service, the application being stored in the userterminal 110.

The charging-location determining module 232 determines a charginglocation on the basis of the location of the user terminal 110(operation S802). The charging-performing vehicle determining module 233determines a charging-performing vehicle terminal among thecharging-vehicle terminals 120 on the basis of the charging location andthe locations of the charging-vehicle terminals 120 (operation S803).Here, a method of determining the charging location and a method ofdetermining the charging-performing vehicle terminal are the same as themethod of determining the charging location and the method ofdetermining the charging-performing vehicle terminal described above,performed by the charging alarm providing module 123, and are thus notdescribed in detail again here.

The charging performing information providing module 234 transmits, tothe user terminal 110, information regarding the charging location, thedistance between the location of the user terminal 110 and the charginglocation, and an estimated moving time, and real-time locationinformation of the charging-performing vehicle (operation S804).Furthermore, the charging performing information providing module 234may transmit real-time location information of the user terminal 110 tothe charging-performing vehicle terminal. Through the above information,each of the user terminal 110 and the charging-performing vehicleterminal may determine the location of the other in real time.

The controller 240 controls operations of the charging-pattern alarmunit 210, the charging-plan generator 220, and the constant chargingperforming unit 230, and the flow of data.

Although it is described that the above three embodiments are performedby one hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging service providing server 130,the present invention is not limited thereto and these embodiments maybe performed by different servers.

As described above, according to the present invention, a hydrogen fuelcell vehicle may be charged through a mobile charging vehicle even in aregion in which a hydrogen-charging station does not exist, and may gettogether with a charging vehicle to perform charging at an optimumlocation based on the location of a user terminal related to thehydrogen fuel cell vehicle, such as either a nearest charging locationor a charging location which is in a moving path of the hydrogen fuelcell vehicle.

A moving distance pattern and a fuel usage pattern of a hydrogen fuelcell vehicle may be analyzed to predict a fuel charging time of thehydrogen fuel cell vehicle, and a charging alarm may be provided at thefuel charging time even when a charging request is not received from auser, so that the user may perform fuel charging.

Furthermore, a charging plan of a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, includinga number of times of charging, a charging location, etc. may be made onthe basis of information regarding a point of departure and adestination of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle.

In addition, when a user of a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle requests tocharge the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle by him/herself, fuel charging maybe directly performed by determining a charging location and acharging-performing vehicle terminal on the basis of the location of auser terminal.

A method of providing a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging serviceaccording to an embodiment of the present invention may be embodied as acomputer-readable code in a computer-readable recording medium. Thecomputer-readable recording medium may be any recording apparatuscapable of storing data that is read by a computer system.

Examples of the computer-readable recording medium include a read-onlymemory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a compact disc (CD)-ROM, amagnetic tape, a hard disk, a floppy disk, a portable storage medium, anon-volatile memory (a flash memory), an optical data storage device,and so on.

Furthermore, the computer-readable recording medium can be distributedamong computer systems that are interconnected through a computercommunication network, and the present invention may be stored andimplemented as a computer-readable code in a distributed manner.

While a method of providing a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle chargingservice, a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging service providing serverconfigured to perform the method, and a recording medium storing themethod according to embodiments of the present invention have beendescribed above, the present invention is not limited thereto. Variousmodifications can be made to the embodiments of the present inventionwithout departing from the scope of the invention defined in the claimsand specification of the invention, and the appended drawings. Thus, itis intended that the present invention covers all such modificationsprovided they come within the scope of the appended claims and theirequivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of providing a hydrogen fuel cellvehicle charging service, performed by a hydrogen fuel cell vehiclecharging service providing server connected to a user terminal and aplurality of charging-vehicle terminals, the method comprising: (a)analyzing a fuel usage pattern of a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle relatedto the user terminal, and predicting a fuel charging time of thehydrogen fuel cell vehicle on the basis of the fuel usage pattern; (b)when the fuel charging time is reached, determining a charging locationand a charging-performing vehicle terminal on the basis of locationinformation of the user terminal, and providing the user terminal with acharging alarm including information regarding the charging location andthe charging-performing vehicle terminal; and (c) providing thecharging-performing vehicle terminal with the information regarding theuser terminal and the charging location when a charging request isreceived from the user terminal in response to the charging alarm. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein (a) comprises: determining a fuel usagepattern on the basis of data regarding a daily moving distance and adaily fuel usage of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle; and determining adate when the amount of fuel of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle isexpected to decrease to a predetermined reference amount or less on thebasis of the fuel usage pattern, wherein the fuel usage pattern isperiodically updated.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein (b) comprisesdetermining a charging location nearest to the user terminal or acharging location where the user terminal uses most frequently among atleast one charging location which is within a specific range from alocation of the user terminal.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein (b)comprises providing the user terminal with information regarding atleast one charging location which is within a specific range from alocation of the user terminal, receiving a user's selection as to aspecific charging location from the user terminal, and determining thecharging location.
 5. The method of claim 3, wherein (b) comprisesdetermining the charging-performing vehicle terminal nearest to thecharging location and having no charging performing plan among theplurality of charging-vehicle terminals on the basis of the charginglocation, wherein charging vehicles related to the plurality ofcharging-vehicle terminals move according to predetermined locationmovement plans of the respective charging vehicles.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein (c) comprises providing the user terminal with anestimated moving time to the charging location and real-time locationinformation of a charging-performing vehicle, and providing thecharging-performing vehicle terminal with real-time location informationof the user terminal.
 7. A method of providing a hydrogen fuel cellvehicle charging service, performed by a hydrogen fuel cell vehiclecharging service providing server connected to a user terminal and aplurality of charging-vehicle terminals, the method comprising: (a)receiving information regarding a point of departure and a destinationfrom the user terminal; (b) calculating an estimated fuel consumptionrate of a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle related to the user terminal on thebasis of the information regarding the point of departure and thedestination; (c) determining a number of times of charging, a chargingtime, and a charging location on the basis of the estimated fuelconsumption rate; and (d) setting a moving path of the user terminal onthe basis of the charging location and the information regarding thepoint of departure and the destination.
 8. The method of claim 7,wherein (c) comprises determining, on the basis of the estimated fuelconsumption rate, an estimated location of the hydrogen fuel cellvehicle at the charging time when the amount of fuel is expected todecrease to a predetermined reference amount or less, and determining acharging location which is within a specific range from the estimatedlocation.
 9. The method of claim 7, wherein (c) comprises determining acharging˜performing vehicle terminal among a plurality ofcharging-vehicle terminals on the basis of a distance to the charginglocation, a charging performing plan of a charging vehicle, and alocation movement plan of the charging vehicle, wherein chargingvehicles related to the plurality of charging-vehicle terminals moveaccording to predetermined location movement plans of the respectivecharging vehicles.
 10. The method of claim 7, further comprisingproviding a charging-performing vehicle terminal with informationregarding the user terminal, the charging time, and the charginglocation.
 11. A method of providing a hydrogen fuel cell vehiclecharging service, performed by a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle chargingservice providing server connected to a user terminal and a plurality ofcharging-vehicle terminals, the method comprising: (a) receiving acharging request from the user terminal; (b) determining a charginglocation on the basis of a location of the user terminal; (c)determining a charging-performing vehicle terminal among the pluralityof charging-vehicle terminals on the basis of the charging location andlocations of the plurality of charging-vehicle terminals; and (d)transmitting, to the user terminal, information regarding the charginglocation, the distance between the location of the user terminal and thecharging location, and an estimated moving time, and real-time locationinformation of the charging-performing vehicle.
 12. The method of claim11, wherein (c) comprises checking whether the plurality ofcharging-vehicle terminals are located within a specific range from thecharging location, and charging performing plans of the plurality ofcharging-vehicle terminals, wherein charging vehicles related to theplurality of charging vehicle terminals move according to predeterminedlocation movement plans of the respective charging vehicles.
 13. Themethod of claim 11, wherein (d) comprises transmitting real-timelocation information of the user terminal to the charging-performingvehicle terminal.
 14. A non-transitory computer-readable recordingmedium having recorded thereon a program for executing the method of anyone of claim 1 on a computer.